Does Paulsen seem intent on recruiting a center at any point? I know it's a guard heavy league but having Troy at the 4 with a true center in the next couple years seems like it could be a dangerous lineup. I fear for us considering we had an average year and yet we were one of the top rebounding teams in the country, a stat that is sure to drop way off.
I think you need to look at offensive vs. defensive rebounding. Below is Kenpom's chart of offensive and defensive stats for DP's Bucknell teams as well as last year's Mason team.
DP's teams at both Bucknell and Mason have been great at limiting offensive rebounds while on defense. However, even with Muscala, DP's teams at Bucknell were not great on the offensive glass. I agree with gmujim92 that the offensive rebounding stats with Shevon last year were an aberration for a Paulsen-coached team -- and the stats in the chart below prove the point. Mason ranked 51st in the country in OR% on offense -- by far the best offensive rebounding performance by a DP-coached team. My expectation is that the offensive rebounding will likely drop off.
However, I expect this year's Mason team to continue the trend of DP-coach strong defensive rebounding teams.
DP's defensive philosophy is to play M-T-M defense with an emphasis on defensive rebounding. His teams do not try to turn over other teams and they typical do not crash the offensive boards. Muscala graduated in 2013, yet DP's 2014 Bucknell team ranked 2nd in the nation in limiting the OR% of its opponents despite the lack of a true center and the presence of fairly un-athletic big men on their front line.
The A-10 is obviously a better conference than the Patriot League with bigger, more athletic personnel. Nonetheless, I believe that defensive rebounding (ie, limiting an opponent's offensive rebounds) will not be a weakness of this year's team despite the loss of Shevon.
